George du Maurier

Biography

George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (1834–1896) was a French-born British artist, author, and Punch magazine cartoonist who became one of the most famous illustrators of the Victorian era. He is best known for his novel Trilby (1894), which was the bestselling novel of its decade and introduced the character of Svengali—the sinister hypnotist who controls the heroine—into popular culture. Du Maurier was the grandfather of novelist Daphne du Maurier. His social cartoons for Punch satirizing Victorian society were widely admired, and his novels drew on his experience in the bohemian art world of Paris.